One cannot seek information about Digi Yatra by filing an RTI as the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) says that the project does not come under the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005. This is because the Digi Yatra project is being undertaken by Digi Yatra Foundation, a non-profit body of participating airports, the ministry said in a response to an RTI filed by MediaNama. “The information sought may be available with Digi Yatra Foundation, however, they do not come under the purview of the RTl Act 2005,” the reply reads. The Digi Yatra policy is an initiative by the MCA to introduce a "biometric boarding system" that uses facial recognition technology for verification at Indian airports. The objective is to streamline the boarding process by eliminating the need for verification of tickets and IDs at multiple checkpoints. Last month, the Civil Aviation Ministry said that the Digi Yatra facility will soon be extended to Kolkata, Pune, Vijayawada, and Hyderabad airports by March 2023, under phase I implementation of the project. The first phase of the project was launched in December 2022, starting with Delhi, Bangalore, and Varanasi airports. Why it matters: The Ministry of Civil Aviation is planning to expand the project to other cities amid concerns related to the use of facial recognition technology--such as storage, sharing and security of data and privacy of travellers--in the absence of a data protection regime. The fact that the project is going to impact a large number of travellers…
